Katherine Profeta is a NYC dramaturg who has worked with choreographer/visual artist Ralph Lemon since 1997. Other artistic collaborators over the years include Alexandra Beller, Nora Chipaumire, Karin Coonrod, Annie Dorsen, Okwui Okpokwasili, Julie Taymor, David Thomson, Sage Ni’Ja Whitson, and Netta Yerushalmy.
She is also a founding member and choreographer with award-winning NYC theater company Elevator Repair Service, having lent her hand to most of its productions from 1991-2015. She was proud to have been a dramaturg with the Urban Bush Women Choreographic Center Initiative in 2017-18, and recently to have co-led the 4-day workshop on Dramaturgy in Choreography in connection with the Mexican National Dance Prize in 2023.
Profeta holds an MFA and DFA from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, the latter conferred in December 2009 for her dissertation More Lost than Found: Charting Ralph Lemon’s Geography Trilogy from Conception through Performance.
Her book, Dramaturgy in Motion: At Work on Dance and Movement Performance, came out from University of Wisconsin Press in December 2015. Other writing has appeared in Theater, Dance and Performance Training, Performing Arts Journal, Theater Magazine, Movement Research Performance Journal, and TCG’s Production Notebooks. A chapter is forthcoming in the Museum of Modern Art's edited collection, Ralph Lemon (Fall 2016).
She has taught in the theater departments of Barnard and Queens College, CUNY. Profeta is a Professor in the Practice in the Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism program at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
Doctorate of Fine Arts, Yale School of Drama, Department of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism. Dissertation: More Lost Than Found: Charting Ralph Lemon’s Geography Trilogy From Conception Through Performance
Masters of Fine Arts, Yale School of Drama, Department of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism. Comp Topics: Dance Theater, Revenge Tragedy, Caryl Churchill
Bachelor of Arts, Yale College. Majors in English Literature and Studio Art. Magna cum laude, with Honors in English.
ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL WORK
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
Professor in the Practice, David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism Program. 2017-present. Secondary appointment: Yale College Theater and Performance Studies program, 2023-present.
Associate Professor, Queens College, Department of Drama, Theatre & Dance. Tenure granted 2017; on leave 2017-18
Assistant Professor, Queens College, Department of Drama, Theatre & Dance. 2010-2017.
Visiting Instructor, Yale School of Drama, Department of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism. Fall 2009.
Visiting Instructor, Yale College, Theater Studies Department. Fall 2002.
Visiting Lecturer, Barnard College, Department of Theatre. Fall 2000-Spring 2001.
Teaching Assistant, Yale College, Theater Studies Department. Spring 1998-Spring 2000.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS
Founding member, Choreographer, Performer, Movement Coach and/or Movement Dramaturg, with Elevator Repair Service. 1991-present.
Dramaturg, with choreographer Ralph Lemon. 1997-present.
Dramaturg, with choreographer Netta Yerushalmy. 2021-present.
Dramaturg, with performer/choreographer Okwui Okpokwasili, 2023-present.
Dramaturg and/or dramaturgical consultant, with choreographer Sage Ni’Ja Whitson, 2019
Dramaturg, with choreographer Nora Chipaumire. 2012-13.
Dramaturg, with Alexander Beller/Dances. 2011-12.
Dramaturg, with choreographer David Thomson, 2009-10.
Dramaturg, with director Annie Dorsen. 2007-08.
Choreographer and Dramaturg, with director Emma Griffin. 2002-03.
Dramaturg and/or Assistant Director, with director Karin Coonrod. 2000-05.
Assistant to the Director and Researcher, for director Julie Taymor. 1991-99.
Dramaturg and/or Educational Associate, for Theater for a New Audience. Occasional between 1995-2003.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
Watermill Center for the Arts Rehearsal and Writing Residency | planned for March 2024
NYSCI Residency Mentor | New York State Choreographer’s Initiative, 2022
MANCC Embedded Writers Commission | Maggie Allensee National Choreographic Center, 2018 and 2022
Raymond D. Gasper Chairman Award | Queens College, 2015
Dance/Theater Residency Initiative Grant | Joyce Theater/Rockefeller Fund, 2011
(with Alexandra Beller)
Innovative Course Development Grant | Queens College, 2011
(with Edisa Weeks)
Dissertation Completion Grant | Yale School of Drama, 2003
Nominee, Louis Sudler Prize for Excellence in the Arts | Yale College, 1991
MEMBERSHIPS
American Society of Theater Researchers (ASTR)
Dance Studies Association (DSA) Formerly a member of Society of Dance Historians and Scholars (SDHS), which combined with Congress on Research in Dance (CORD) to form DSA in 2017
Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America (LMDA)
PERFORMANCE WORK
AS DRAMATURG
Netta Yerushalmy, Salon (working title). Collaborative creation by six female-identified artists about femaleness at mid-life. Residencies to be scheduled through 2023-24 with a residence/showing at ICA Boston in Summer 2024 and a probable premiere in NYC in late 2024. [dramaturg, collaborator, possible performer]
Okwui Okpokwasili and Peter Born, adaku, part 1: the road opens. Performances at ICA Boston and Redcat (LA) in 2023, with upcoming performance at Brooklyn Academy of Music in late 2023.
Ralph Lemon, Rant/Low. Residency with Lemon and performer Darrell Jones at MANCC at Florida State University, 2018. Rant has been performed in multiple installments, including The Whitney Museum (2019) and The Kitchen (2020); Low was performed at the Venice Biannale (2022). New installments are forthcoming. An upcoming Watermill Residency in 2024 will develop the relationship between Lemon and Jones’s improvisational practices and my own practice of writing about movement, as well as our collective editing of movement scores and oral conversation transcripts.
Netta Yerushalmy, Movement. Residency with Yerushalmy and cast at MANCC at Florida State University, 2022. Premiere at Peak Performances, Monclair NJ and tour to Tel Aviv in 2022. Future performances to come.
Sage Ni’Ja Whitson, Oba Qween Baba King Baba. Premiere at Danspace Project, NYC, March 2019. Production won Bessie Award for Best Visual Design.
Grisha Coleman, echo::system – treadmill dreamtime, running in place. Premiere at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, April 2016. [credit: “Guest Dramaturg”]
Ralph Lemon, Scaffold Room. Text-based interdisciplinary work for two female performers in a gallery setting. Residency at MANCC at Florida State University, February 2014. Premiere September 2014 at Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis. Performance at Bard College as part of The House is Open exhibition, November 2014. New York premiere at The Kitchen, October 2015.
Elevator Repair Service, The Sound and the Fury. 2015 remount of 2008 piece. New York Public Theater, May-July 2015. [as Movement Dramaturg]
Nora Chipaumire, rite riot. Premiere at FIAF as part of Crossing the Line festival, NYC, September 2013.
Elevator Repair Service, Arguendo. Work-in-progress showing as part of Under the Radar festival, New York Public Theater, January 2013. Premiere September 2013 at the New York Public Theater. Touring 2013-14 to Wexner Center for the Arts (Ohio), 62 Center at Williams College, MoCA (Chicago), Woolly Mammoth (DC), International Festival of Arts and Ideas (New Haven), Z Space (San Francisco), REDCAT (LA), and Schauspielhaus (Zurich). [as Movement Dramaturg]
Alexandra Beller/Dances, other stories. Premiere in Boston at ICA, July 2011. Workshop performance in NYC at Culturemart, HERE, Feb 2012. New York premiere at Joyce Soho, April 2012.
Ralph Lemon, How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere? Premiere at the Krannert Center in Illinois in September 2010. Went on to a seven-location nationwide tour over Fall 2010, including REDCAT (Los Angeles), The Walker Center (Minneapolis), Duke University (Durham), and Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York).
David Thomson, 1959 (March 2010), a piece for two dancers and an actor. Premiere at Danspace in New York.
Annie Dorsen, Democracy in America (March-April 2008), a crowd-sourced piece of collage-theater for three performers. Premiere at PS122 in New York.
Ralph Lemon, Come home Charley Patton (2004), the third part of the Geography Trilogy (1997-2004). Premiere at the Krannert Center (Urbana, IL) and went on to other locations including Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York).
Ralph Lemon, Tree (2000), the second part of the Geography Trilogy. Also credited as “Text Arranger.” Premiere at the Yale Repertory Theater (New Haven, CT), and tour to locations including Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York).
Karin Coonrod, Theater for a New Audience productions of King John (2000), Julius Caesar (2003), and Coriolanus (2005). Also credited as Assistant Director for King John.
Ralph Lemon, Geography (1997), the first part of the Geography Trilogy. Premiere at Yale Repertory Theater (New Haven, CT) and tour to other locations including Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York).
Julie Taymor, Titus (film, 1999). Performed dramaturgical research and created annotations for film script.
Julie Taymor, Titus Andronicus (stage, 1994) and The Green Bird (1996). Performed dramaturgical research and wrote program notes. Also onstage as puppeteer for The Green Bird. Theater for a New Audience, New York.
Julie Taymor, The Magic Flute (1993). Performed dramaturgical research, and then performed onstage as dancer/puppeteer. Teatro Della Pergola, Florence, Italy.
Julie Taymor, Oedipus Rex (1992). Performed dramaturgical research, and then helped construct puppets for Stravinsky’s opera-oratorio of this story. Matsumoto, Japan.
Jeff Horowitz, Artistic Director, Theater for a New Audience. Performed dramaturgical research and prepared program notes for productions of Henry VI (1995), Measure for Measure (1996) and The Last Letter (2003).
AS DIRECTOR
131. (premiere PS122, NYC, March 2004). Directed and devised (in collaboration with performers) this full-length performance piece for three actors and a dancer, set to Beethoven’s Opus 131 string quartet and informed by the family and health history of the composer during the period of its composition.
AS CHOREOGRAPHER / MOVEMENT COACH, ETC.
Elevator Repair Service, Seagull. The Skirball Center, July 2022. [Choreography and Movement]
Elevator Repair Service, No Great Society (2017 restaging of 2006 piece). The Bushwick Star, June 2017. [Choreographer]
Elevator Repair Service, Fondly, Colette Richland. Premiere at New York Theatre Workshop in September 2015. [Movement Coach]
Elevator Repair Service, The Select (The Sun Also Rises). US premiere at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival (September 2010). New York premiere at New York Theater Workshop (September 2011). Has toured to locations such as the McCarter Theater in Princeton, NJ (Oct 2012) and international festivals in Amsterdam (June 2011), Vienna (June 2011), Dublin (Sept 2012), Lisbon (Oct 2012), Hobart, Australia (March 2013), and Santiago, Chile (January 2016). [Movement Coach]
Elevator Repair Service productions of Marx Brothers on Horseback Salad (1992), Language Instruction: Love Family vs Andy Kaufman (1994), Shut Up I Tell You (1996), Cab Legs (1997), Total Fictional Lie (1998), Highway to Tomorrow (2000), Room Tone (2002), No Great Society (2006), and The Sound and the Fury (April Seventh 1928) (2008). [Choreographer or Dance Director]
Les Freres Corbusier production of Boozy: The Life, Death and Subsequent Vilification of Le Corbusier And, More Importantly, Robert Moses (2005), dir. Alex Timbers. Ohio Theater and Culture Project @ 45 Bleecker, New York. [Choreographer]
Bat Boy: The Musical (2003), dir. Emma Griffin. Southern Repertory Theater, New Orleans, LA. [Choreographer]
AS PERFORMER
Elevator Repair Service productions of Spine Check (1992) and Room Tone (2002).PUBLICATIONS
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
Dramaturgy in Motion: At Work on Dance and Movement Performance. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, through the line of the Society of Dance Historians and Scholars. December 2015.
i get lost, [Danspace Platform catalogue]. As editor and contributor. New York: Danspace, January 2010.
CHAPTERS IN BOOKS
“Geography Trilogy: Take Your Body Apart and Put it Back Together.” In Ralph Lemon, ed. Thomas Lax. Museum of Modern Art. Expected publication Fall 2016.
“Field Notes: In the Studio with Ralph Lemon and Donald Byrd.” Co-authored with Thomas F. DeFrantz. In Dance Dramaturgy: Modes of Agency, Awareness, and Engagement, ed. Pil Hansen and Darcey Callison. Palgrave, 2015.
“Beijing 2008.” In Vanguard Performance Beyond Left and Right, ed. Kimberly Jannarone. University of Michigan Press, 2015.
“Geography.” In The Production Notebooks: Theater in Process, Volume 2, edited by Mark Bly, New York: TCG, 2001.
ARTICLES IN JOURNALS
“Training the Anti-Spectacular for Ralph Lemon’s Dance that Disappears.” Theater, Dance and Performance Training, 2:2, 2011.
“Ralph Lemon and the Buck Dance.” Movement Research Performance Journal 33, August 2008.
“The Geography of Inspiration.” Performing Arts Journal (81), Volume 27, number 3, 2005.
“Dialogue in Motion.” Movement Research Performance Journal 18, Winter/Spring 1999.
REVIEWS
“Almost Paradise.” an extended review of Pascal Rambert’s Paradis (unfolding time) at Dance Theater Workshop. In Theater magazine, Volume 37, no. 1, 2007.
“Yesterday and Today” and “A Turbulent Harmony.”, two analyses of Once and Rain, respectively, by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. Translated into French and Flemish for publication in La Monnaie Magazine, the publication of the Belgian National Opera House, Special Edition, Spring 2007.
“War Prophets,” an extended review of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s text-based dance/theater piece Kassandra: Speaking in twelve voices, at Theatre de la Ville. In Theater magazine, Volume 35, number 2, 2005. Also excerpted and translated into French and Flemish for reprint in La Monnaie Magazine, the publication of the Belgian National Opera House, Volume 68, Dec 2005-Jan 2006.
INTERVIEWS (BOTH AS INTERVIEWER AND INTERVIEWEE)
“Annie Dorsen: Finding Her People. An Interview with Katherine Profeta.” SDC Journal, Fall 2015.
Interview of Katherine Profeta translated into Korean for section of Young-Joo Choi’s book, 드라마투르기란무엇인가 (What Is Dramaturgy), Paju: Taehaksa, 2013.
“Katherine Profeta.” Interview with Andy Horwitz. Culturebot, 22 March 2004.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Liner notes, DVD archive of The Geography Trilogy, New York: Cross Performance, 2007.
PRESENTATIONS
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
ASTR Conference, San Diego, CA, October 2021. Paper “Repetition in the Guise of Spontaneity, Considered in Improv Comedy and Contact Improv” was part of Working Group on Comedy Studies.
DSA Conference, New Brunswick, NJ, October 2021. Paper “Lemon’s Rants and Lows: Proposing the Spectacular Anti-spectacle of Protest.”
Performance Studies Working Group, Yale University, November 2019. Paper “The Promise of Common Creation in Contact Improvisation and Improv Comedy”
DSA Conference, Chicago, IL, August 2019. Paper “The Promise of Common Creation in ContactImprovisation and Improv Comedy”
Experimental Dramaturgies Forum, University of Chicago, October 2018. Presentation “Third Wheel Dramaturgy? (Working on Small, Intimate Experiments...)”
ASTR Conference, Atlanta, GA, November 2017. Paper “ERS’s Untrained Bodies, Redefining Virtuosity for the Everyday” to be part of Working Group “Boring the Body/Boring Bodies.”
CORD/SDHS Conference, Pomona, CA, November 2016. Delivered paper entitled “Dilemmas of Intercultural Experimentation” as part of panel Studies in Dance History: Power, Ideology, and Ethics on International Stages.
Performance Studies International (PSi) Conference, Stanford, CA, June 2013. Delivered paper entitled “Temporality and Narrative in the Dramaturgy of Movement-Based Performance.”
ASTR Conference, Nashville, TN, November 2012. Paper “Beijing to London, 2008-2012” was part of Working Group panel Culture, Citizenship and Mass Spectacle.
SDHS Conference Dance Dramaturgy: Catalyst, Perspective and Memory, Toronto, Canada, June 2011. Speaker at Roundtable: “Dramaturgical Reports from the Field,” with Thomas F. DeFrantz and Talvin Wilks.
ASTR Conference, Seattle, WA, November 2010. Paper “Beijing 2008” was part of Working Group panel Massed Bodies, Massed Power.
SDHS Conference, Surrey and London, UK, July 2010. Delivered paper entitled “Ralph Lemon’s Resistance to Making a Spectacle.”
SDHS Conference, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 2008. Delivered paper entitled “Ralph Lemon and the Buck Dance.”
SDHS Conference, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 2008. Speaker on Featured Plenary, Moving Forward, as one of six young scholars characterizing emerging trends in performance scholarship.
ASTR Conference, Durham, NC, November 2003. Paper “Ralph Lemon’s Geography Trilogy” was part of Working Group panel The Dramaturg and the Performance Archive (Past and Future).
OTHER PRESENTATIONS
Seminar and Workshop, as co-Facilitator – Artboretum, Chalmita, Mexico, July 2023. Dramaturgia en la Coreografía, Acompañamiento en el Proceso de Creación, Producción e Investigación Artística, a 4-day seminar and workshop for finalist choreographers of the 2023 Mexican National Dance Prize granted by INBAL-UAM. “Introduction to Dramaturgy,” “Audience,” and “Process & Narrative.”
Lecture – Encuentro Nacional de Danza, Mexico City (delivered online), November 2022. “Dance Dramaturgy and the Question of Audience”
Panel – Gibney, February 2021. “Art & Action: Dramaturgy in Dance.” Moderated by Melanie George, with Stephanie Acosta and Pele Bauch.
Lecture and Workshop – SPARKS program for emerging choreographers, Dance House Helsinki, Finland, August 2020 (delivered online). As part of larger role as Advisor to the SPARKS program in 2020-21.
Panel and Residency – Urban Bush Women Choreographic Institute, Dramaturg Convening (meeting between Dramaturgs and second Cohort of Choreographers), Jacob’s Pillow, November 2018.
Panel – NYU Department of Performance Studies, October 2017. “The Body and the Book: Artistic Research in Today’s Academy.” Moderated by André Lepecki, with Ben Spatz and Ximena Garnica.
Lecture and Panel – Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, as part of the TBA Festival, September 2017. “Dramaturgy in Motion” lecture and “Panel on Dance Dramaturgy.” Subjects: the concept of research in dance dramaturgy (lecture); current-day dance dramaturgical practice and questions (panel). Panel with Kate Bredeson, sidony o’neal, and Lu Yim.
Lecture – Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance at Wesleyan University, July 2017. Subject: Devised theater/dance praxis and aesthetics.
Roundtable – CUNY Graduate Center. Conference “Approaching Dance: Transdisciplinary Methodologies and Modalities of the Moving Body in Performance.” Culminating Roundtable discussion with VK Preston, Thomas DeFranz, and Paul Scolieri.
Panel – University of Texas at Austin, as part of the Cohen New Works Festival. “Dance in the Present.” Subject: ideas and issues around current projects. With Padtro Harris, Anuradha Naimpally, and Kate Watson-Wallace.
Lecture – Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance at Wesleyan University, July 2016. Subject: Devised theater/dance praxis and aesthetics.
Panelist – American Realness Festival, Abrons Arts Center, New York, NY, January 2016. “How Should the Present Think About the Future? Claudia La Rocca and Lane Czaplinski with Annie Dorsen, Yelena Gluzman, Katherine Profeta and Others.” Subject: documentation and archival strategies for live performance.
Lecture – Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance at Wesleyan University, July 2015. Subject: Devised theater/dance praxis and aesthetics.
Lecture and Residency – Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois, Urbana, April 2015. Three day solo “creative residency” on dance dramaturgy, including formal lecture, informal discussions, and class meetings, to help the Krannert devise new means to support dramaturgical work in new dance development. Initiative funded by a Mellon Foundation grant.
Lecture – Temple University Dance Studies Colloquium, Speaker Series, Philadelphia, PA, December 2014. “Dance Dramaturgy and the Question of Research.” \
Lecture and Residency – Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois, Urbana, April 2014. Along with dramaturg Talvin Wilks, took part in two days of formal lecture, informal discussions, and class meetings, to help the Krannert devise new means to support dramaturgical work in new dance development. Initiative funded by a Mellon Foundation grant.
Moderator – Brooklyn Academy of Music, October 2013. Post-performance discussion of A Rite with Bill T. Jones, Anne Bogart and Janet Wong.
Panelist – Movement Research Studies Project: "Dramaturgy as Practice/Dramaturgy in Practice: Part 2," New York, NY, October 2013. With Annie Dorsen, David Thomson, Talvin Wilks, Susan Mar Landau, and Vanessa Anspaugh.
Lecture – Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance at Wesleyan University, July 2013. Subject: Devised theater/dance praxis and aesthetics.
Panelist – Movement Research Studies Project: "Dramaturgy as Practice/Dramaturgy in Practice," New York, NY, May 2013. With Thomas F. DeFrantz, Susan Mar Landau, and André Lepecki.
Panelist – Yale Dramaturgy Colloquy, New Haven CT, May 2013. Subject: The state of the field.
Panelist – Danspace Project, New York, NY, November 2012. “Conversation Without Walls,” in connection with performance of Some sweet day series at the Museum of Modern Art, NYC.
Lecture – Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance at Wesleyan University, July 2012. Subject: Devised theater/dance praxis and aesthetics.
Lecture – Andrew T. Mellon Foundation, New York City, December 2011. Convening of Dance centers and artists. “Dance Dramaturgy: When and How is it Useful?”
Panelist – CUNY Martin Segal Center, New York, NY, May 2011. “Contemporary Dramaturgy in the US,” convened by the LMDA (Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America).
Moderator – Dance Theater Workshop, April 2011. “Lobby Talks” panel entitled “Narrative in Contemporary Dance Performance.” With Maria Bauman, Walter Dundervill, Jack Ferver and André Lepecki.
Lecture – Queens College, Year of China delegation, December 2010. Delivered paper “Ralph Lemon’s Movement Experiments” to delegation of visiting scholars and dance professionals from Beijing.
Co-moderator – Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, September 2010. With Senior Performance Curator Philip Bither, led audience outreach talk connected to performance of How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?
Moderator -- Danspace Project, PLATFORM 2010: i get lost, Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York, January 2010. Roundtable with artists David Zambrano, Souleymane Badolo, Judith Sánchez Ruíz, Robert Steijn, and Maria Hassabi.
Moderator -- Danspace Project, PLATFORM 2010: i get lost, Anthology Film Archive, New York, January 2010. Discussion with Ralph Lemon and Dr. Yvonne Daniel after screening of Maya Deren’s film footage on Haitian trance.
Co-moderator -- Association of Performing Arts Presenters Conference, Under the Radar Symposium, New York, NY, January 2008. Panel Discussion, “Theater That Moves / Dancing Theater.”
Panelist -- Dance Theater Workshop, New York, NY, May 2006. “The Art of Questioning: On Dance Dramaturgy,” part three of the Dance Unwrapped series. With Maaike Bleeker and Robert Steijn, moderated by NY Times critic Gia Kourlas.
Panelist -- Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, April 2006. Public conversation with Ralph Lemon, moderated by Director of Performance Peter Taub, about the nature of the Lemon/Profeta collaboration.
Panelist -- Visual Culture Roundtable, Hunter College, CUNY, New York, NY, February 2005. “Questioning Collaboration/Questioning Geography.” With Ralph Lemon, visual artist Nari Ward, and conceptual artist and composer Christian Marclay. Moderated by Debra Singer, Chief Curator, the Kitchen.
REVIEWS OF PERFORMANCE WORK
“I’m Kind of Fucked Sharing This: Ralph Lemon’s Scaffold Room,” by Jaime Shearn Coan. The Brooklyn Rail, 9 December 2015.
“Multidisciplinary Artist Ralph Lemon’s Scaffold Room Occupies Some Serious Headspace,” by Jennifer Krasinski. The Village Voice, 17 November 2015.
“On the Culture Front: The Food Film Festival, Old Times, Fool for Love, and More,” by Chris Kompanek. The Huffington Post, 30 October 2015. [Reviewing Fondly, Collette Richland]
“Fondly Collette Richland,” by David Cote. Time Out New York, 28 Sept 2015.
“Fondly Collette Richland Offers Open-Eyed Dreaming,” by Ben Brantley. The New York Times, 28 Sept 2015.
“Elevator Repair Service’s The Sound and the Fury,” by Isabella Biedenharn. Entertainment Weekly, 22 May 2015.
“The Sound and the Fury, Elevator Repair Service’s Take on Faulkner,” by Ben Brantley. The New York Times, 21 May 2015.
“The Sound and the Fury is a Confusing Yet Engrossing Faulkner Reboot,” by Elizabeth Vincentelli. The New York Post, 21 May 2015.
“Southern Gothic: Elevator Repair Service Interprets Faulkner,” by Hilton Als. The New Yorker, 18 May 2015.
*“Theater Group Puts Supreme Court Case Front and Center,” by Sean Elder. Newsweek, 3 December 2014 [reviewing Elevator Repair Service’s Arguendo].
“Visual Arts Come to the Theater as Genres Blend and Bend: Jack Ferver and Ralph Lemon at the Fisher Center at Bard,” by Siobhan Burke. The New York Times, 23 November 2014.
**“Arguendo Review: Enactment of Erotica Trial Supremely Amusing,” by Robert Hurwitt. SFGate, 31 October 2014.
“When Life Hands You Lemon,” by Claudia La Rocco. Artforum, 3 October 2014. [reviewing Ralph Lemon’s Scaffold Room]
“Review: Ralph Lemon’s ‘Scaffold Room’ a Brilliant Mess,” by Rohan Preston. Star Tribune, 26 September 2014.
**“Ralph Lemon Unveils New Work at Walker Art Center,” by Rohan Preston. Star Tribune, 26 September 2014. [advance press for Scaffold Room]
“A Satirical Look Inside the Kitty Kat Lounge Case,” by Chris Jones. Chicago Tribune, 16 March 2014 [reviewing Elevator Repair Service’s Arguendo]
“Thigh Court,” by Emily Bazelon. Slate, 23 October 2013 [reviewing Elevator Repair Service’s Arguendo]
“Public Indecency: Elevator Repair Service’s Arguendo,” by Noah Millman. The American Conservative, 18 October 2013
“Faith in the Audience,” by Lizzie Simon. The Wall Street Journal, 7 October 2013. [reviewing Elevator Repair Service’s Arguendo]
“The Lure of the ‘Savage,’ Deconstructed and Reassembled” by Gia Kourlas. The New York Times, 5 October 2013. [reviewing Nora Chipaumire’s rite riot]
“Strippers, Supreme Court and Silliness: Elevator Repair Service’s Arguendo,” by John Del Signore. Gothamist, 2 October 2013.
“Theater Reviews: Arguendo,” by Scott Brown. New York Magazine, 26 September 2013
“Arguendo is Full of Supremely Naughty Charm,” by Alexis Soloski. The Village Voice, 25 September 2013
“The Word’s the Thing,” by Jesse Oxfeld. The New York Observer, 24 September 2013 [reviewing Elevator Repair Service’s Arguendo]
**“Full Frontal Justice; A Matter of Redress,” by Ben Brantley. The New York Times, 24 September 2013 [reviewing Elevator Repair Service’s Arguendo]
“The Supremes” by Joshua J. Friedman. The Paris Review, 31 May 2012 [reviewing work-in-progress showing of Elevator Repair Service’s Arguendo]
**“What Can I Tell You?” by Deborah Jowitt. ArtsJournal’s DanceBeat blog, 23 April 2012. [reviewing Alexandra Beller’s other stories]
“Improvisation Mixed, Reflected and Remixed” by Gia Kourlas. The New York Times, 9 April 2012. [reviewing Alexandra Beller’s other stories]
“Beller’s House of Stories” by Eva Yaa Asantewaa. InfiniteBody blog, 5 April 2012. [reviewing Alexandra Beller’s other stories]
“A Lost Generation Drinks Up, Always on Jake Barnes’s Tab” by Ben Brantley. The New York Times, 11 September 2011. [reviewing Elevator Repair Service’s The Select (The Sun Also Rises)]
“In Nuanced Narratives, We Wait, Listen, and Learn” by Jeffrey Gantz. The Boston Globe, 25 July 2011. [reviewing Alexandra Beller’s other stories]
**“Joyce to Use Grants For Dance-Theater Pairs” by Daniel J. Wakin. The New York Times, 8 January 2011. [press covering grant received with Alexandra Beller]
“Review: Ralph Lemon Makes His NW Debut With Fascinating, Moving Work” by Misha Berson. Seattle Times, 19 November 2010. [reviewing Ralph Lemon’s How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?]
“Ralph Lemon At On The Boards” by Jim Demetre. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 18, 2010. [reviewing Ralph Lemon’s How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?]
“Ralph Lemon Tries to Dance a No-Dance” by Deborah Jowitt. The Village Voice, 20 October 2010. [reviewing Ralph Lemon’s How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?]
“Dance Review: Grappling With Grief, And Then With Bodies” by Claudia La Rocco. The New York Times, 15 October 2010. [reviewing Ralph Lemon’s How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?]
“Lemon and Dancers Ask Big Questions” by Caroline Palmer. Star-Tribune, 24 September 2010. [reviewing Ralph Lemon’s How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?]
**“Theater Review: For Whom the Glass is Always Half-Empty” by Ben Brantley. The New York Times, 16 September 2010. [reviewing Elevator Repair Service’s The Select (The Sun Also Rises)]
REVIEWS OF SCHOLARLY WORK
“Vanguard Performance Beyond Left and Right,” by Stephen Scott-Bottoms. New Theatre Quarterly 34:4, November 2018.
“Vanguard Performance Beyond Left and Right,” by James M. Cherry. Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism 32:2, Spring 2018.
“Vanguard Performance Beyond Left and Right,” by John Fletcher. Theatre Survey 59:1, January 2018.
“Dramaturgy in Motion,” by Freya Vass-Rhee, Theater Research International 42:2, July 2017.
“Vanguard Performance Beyond Left and Right,” by Baz Kershaw. Contemporary Theatre Review 27:3, 2017.
“Dancing Across the Proscenium,” by Michael J Kramer. Theater 47:1, 2017, 162-170. [Reviewing Dramaturgy in Motion].
“Vanguard Performance Beyond Left and Right,” by Michael Shane Boyle. Theatre Journal 69:2, June 2017, 280-281.
“Dramaturgy in Motion,” by Kate Elswit. Dance Research Journal 49:1, April 2017.
“Dance Dramaturgy in Theory and Practice,” by Ariel Nereson. Theatre Journal 69:1, March 2017, 103-114. [Reviewing Dramaturgy in Motion and Dance Dramaturgy]
“Dance Dramaturgy,” by Lise Uytterhoeven. Theatre Research International 41:3, October 2016, 283-284.
“Book Review—Dramaturgy in Motion,” by Katalin Trencsényi. Performance Paradigm 12, 2016, 99-105.
“Questions that Emerge in Dramaturgy in Motion,” by DD Kugler. Canadian Theatre Review 167, Summer 2016, 79-81.
“Book Review—Dance Dramaturgy: Expanding the Discourse,” by Synne Behrndt. Canadian Theatre Review 167, Summer 2016, 76-78. [Reviewing Dance Dramaturgy]
“Grasping the Slipperiness of Dramaturgical Labor,” by Lyndsay Vader. Dance Chronicle 39:3, 2016, 375-378. [Reviewing Dramaturgy in Motion]
TEACHING
COURSES DEVELOPED AND TAUGHT [Asterisks indicate created the course]
AT QUEENS COLLEGE
History of Theatre from the Renaissance
Time and the Dancing Image, part 1 [Dance History]
Play and Performance [Play Analysis]
**Writing about Performance
**Collaborative Workshop in Dance and Theatre [co-created and co-taught with Edisa Weeks]
Honors Seminar: The Arts in New York City
Introduction to Drama and Theatre
ELSEWHERE
**Postmodern Dance, 1960-present: Theories and Techniques [Yale College, 2002]
**Collaborative Creation / Devised Performance [a 4-session module of a semester-long Models of Dramaturgy seminar, Yale School of Drama, 2009]
**Movement for Actors [Barnard College, 2000-01]
Theater in New York City [Barnard College, 2001]
Modern American Drama [Barnard College, 2001]
What is Theater? [Barnard College, 2000]
OTHER TEACHING
“Dramaturgy.” 2-hr studio class for NYC Summer Intensive with Alexandra Beller/Dances. June 2016.
“Dramaturgy.” 2-hr studio class for NYC Winter Intensive with Alexandra Beller/Dances. December 2014.
“Making Theater Without a Script.” With Elevator Repair Service. Instructed one course session and co-led one other over the course of this semester-long course. Princeton University, Fall 2013.
“Collaborative Practices.” With Elevator Repair Service. Co-taught, with three other members of ERS, a week-long daily seminar and workshop on collaboratively generated theater and dance. Colorado College, November 2011.
“Translating Source Material to Movement.” With Elevator Repair Service. Co-taught, with other members of ERS, a two-day workshop on as part of SITI Company’s Master Class series. SITI Company, April 2011.
Co-taught, with choreographer Ralph Lemon, a seminar on the research sources of How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere? as part of MAPP’s Cultural Investor Program. MAPP International Productions, September-October 2010.
Co-taught, with Elevator Repair Service, a one-day workshop on devising theater pieces from non-theatrical text and source materials. Bard College, Fall 2009.
“Inner Workings of the Dramaturgical Process.” Co-taught, with Ralph Lemon, a half-day performance practicum as part of a larger series, Dramaturgy and Dance. Chicago Dancemakers Forum, April 2006.
SERVICE
QUEENS COLLEGE
Fall 2015: Senior thesis advisor to student Zoe Isaacson, Macaulay Honors College.
Fall 2015-present: Member, Personnel and Budgets committee, Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance.
Fall 2015-present: Senator, Academic Senate, representing Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance.
Fall 2014-present: Member, Curriculum Committee, Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance.
Fall 2013-present: Humanities Division representative to Dean William McClure’s Faculty Writing Committee to advance the College Writing 2 Curriculum. With Professors Muehbauer (Biology) and Antonova (History), collected syllabi college-wide, ran Spring 2014 post-mortem on new CW2 courses, and devised, distributed and analyzed both faculty and student surveys.
Spring 2014: Member, Search Committee for Assistant Professor of Dance, Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance.
Fall 2013-Spring 2014: Assistant Director, Writing at Queens. Ran Faculty Partner meetings overseeing development of new CW2 courses.
March 2013: Speaker at Presentation/Discussion on College Writing 2. Spoke on the value of “pre-draft activities” as part of this larger presentation to the QC community by Writing at Queens.
March 2013: Guest speaker, Experiential Learning Luncheon. Sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Experiential Learning Working Group.
February 2013: Compiled and edited 2013 Departmental Self-Study on behalf of the Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance.
January 2013: Invited participant, Experiential Learning Simulation Development Workshop, “Negotiations at Lake Success,” sponsored by CERRU (Center for Ethnic, Religious and Racial Understanding) and the QC Provost’s Office. Led by Professor Mark Rosenblum and Sophia McGee.
October 2012: Participant, follow-up session, The Office of the Provost’s Experiential Learning Council’s Workshop on Experiential Learning at Queens College.
Fall 2012-Spring 2015: Alternate Senator, Academic Senate, representing Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance.
Fall 2012-Spring 2013: Writing at Queens Faculty Partner. Worked with a selected group of faculty and graduate writing fellows in order to develop and write new College Writing 2 (CW2) courses for the Drama, Theatre and Dance department.
June 2012: Applied, was accepted, and participated in The Office of the Provost’s Experiential Learning Council’s Workshop on Experiential Learning at Queens College, 4-6 June 2012.
May 2012: Participated in Reacting to the Past Faculty Workshop, Queens College, 3 May 2012.
May 2012: Participated in College Writing 2 Meetings, convened by Dean Judith Summerfield to discuss the development of this new Gen Ed course under Pathways.
Fall 2011: Taught free-hour workshop on speaking Shakespearean Verse to members of QC’s Theatre Guild.
Spring 2011: Brought one former and one current writer of TV’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Rachel Axler and Steve Bodow) to campus to speak to QC students about working in both Theater and TV. Created and facilitated the event as a co-production between the Dept of Drama, Theater and Dance and the Dept of Media Studies, with CLIQ point status. Moderated the discussion in conjunction with Professor Joy Fuqua of Media Studies.
Fall 2010: Brought renowned artists Ralph Lemon, David Thomson and Okwui Okpokwasili, choreographer and dancer/actors of How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?, to campus to speak to QC students. Moderated the discussion.
Fall 2010: Brought director John Collins, Artistic Director of Elevator Repair Service Theater, to classroom to speak to students of DRAM 202, History of Theater since the Renaissance.
TO THE PROFESSION
May 2012: NYU, Performance Studies Department. Member, Dissertation Committee for PhD candidate Gillian Lipton.
April 2012: Yale School of Drama. Respondent for first-year dramaturgy projects which are a culmination of the seminar, Models of Dramaturgy, taught by Lecturer Becca Rugg and Chair of Dramaturgy, Catherine Sheehy.
2011: Member, Graduate Student Travel Awards Committee, Society of Dance Historians and Scholars.
TO THE COMMUNITY
Fall 2015-present: Parent Manager, Soccer at its Best Academy (SABA), Girls’ U10 team.
September 2010-June 2011: Member, Nominating Committee, and Member-at-large, Parent Community Organization, Academy of the City Charter School, Long Island City, New York.
September 2009-September 2010: President, 137 20th Street Jackson Heights Apartment Corporation.
September 2009-May 2010: Member, Hawthorne Court Garden Association’s Committee to Review and Advise on Lawn Access and Usage.